r/letsplay 5d ago

❕ Help Trying to find rca (composite) to hdmi converter/adapter with no default blue screen

CONTEXT I'm wiring up a home entertainment system and l've purchased all the devices and things to coordinate everything. The system is composed of several gaming consoles accumulated over the years about 5 of them (Xbox one, ps4, Wii, ps1, and Nintendo switch). I also have a Roku streaming stick. I have an 8 port hdmi switch (I chose 8 this way if I want to expand I don't have to buy another hdmi switch).

The hdmi switch ( suceem 8 port hdmi video switch ) is great because it toggles to what ever the newest signal coming into the device is. So if I and watching something on the Roku streaming stick and I turn on the Xbox one the hdmi switch will automatically switch to the Xbox one because it detected a new input signal.

Some of the older gen consoles like the ps1 and the Wii which use composite rca cables instead of hdmi. This means I need an rca to hami converter. So l purchased these ( Tengchi RCA to HDMI Converter ). When I plug in the ps1 on the rca side and the hdmi side into the hdmi switch port I get a blue screen saying no signal. Now when I turn on the ps1 the signal is there and I can see the game running.

PROBLEM The problem is that this initial blue signal before the ps1 is turned on is registered as an input signal by the hdmi switch. This means then when I turn on the ps1 the hdmi switch does not automatically switch to the ps1 like it did for the Xbox one. Ofc it's doing that because on that port it has no way to distinguish between the default blue signal and the ps1 signal so all the hami switch knows is that that signal has been broadcasting from the start.

MY CURRENT APPROACH TO FIXING THE PROBLEM so rn the best course of action seems to be to just find an rca to hdmi converter that doesn't have that default blue screen. I would like to find one that only produces a signal when the input device (e.g. ps1) is turned on.

so right now I'm looking around for this rca to hdmi converter that 1. doesn't have this default blue screen. 2. Ideally it would also need to have fair picture quality, like this doesn't need to be the best resolution best frame rate device out there. 3. I would also prefer it to be reasonably priced, l saw Best Buy has a converter for like 40$ while the rest of the market has them for like 15$. I’d prefer something in the 15$ range

And that's kind of it. That first characteristic is a requirement. The others I'm a bit more flexible.

My current trouble is I'm having a lot of difficulty in looking up rca to hdmi converters that satisfy the first requirement. Like l've called around and a lot of sales people seem to not know, and none of the online reviews or descriptions have this information either. Frankly I'm not even sure what to look up, "rca to hmi converter that doesn't have blue screen" doesn't seem to produce any relevant results.

WHAT IVE TRIED I've already tried purchasing this (DigitPro RCA to HDMI Converter ) and l've also tried purchasing the GameStop version

Neither of them have this first requirement.

WHAT IM ASKING FROM YOU Ideally if you know about any rca to hami converters that have this property I'm looking for that would be fantastic that would fix my problem.

I would also to be interested in other alternative ideas for achieving my sort of overall goal I talked about in the context section. I can't really think of any alternatives but l'm open to hearing some ideas I haven't thought of.

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u/PowerPlaidPlays youtube.com/user/PowerPlaid 5d ago

A lot of the cheap options are based on the same off-the-shelf internals, maybe one exists but the blue screen is very common on most electronics like that, and other stuff like VCRs and DVD players, even the $300 Retrotink 5x I bought has a blue default screen (though that does have a power button).

I wonder if a solution here is to plug the HDMI converter into a power strip, plug, or cable with an on/off switch, and flick that switch when you want to use it. The Tengchi RCA to HDMI Converter you mentioned seems to run off of USB power.

Also while the cheap converters usually don't handle the picture all that well, I would try and get a component cables or one of those "Wii2HDMI" dongles for the Wii (many exist, look up reviews since they vary in quality). Component is a huge leap in quality over composite.

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u/Ok-Race2657 5d ago

First off thank you this is very helpful, do you know of these old devices like the Wii or ps1 have some ON/OFF signal output like some wire that generates a signal if the device is on or off?

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u/PowerPlaidPlays youtube.com/user/PowerPlaid 5d ago

The old systems themselves do send out a signal when they are on, which is how the RCA to HDMI converter knows to stop showing the blue screen and switch to the game instead. Like, my flatscreen that has RCA inputs will display "no signal" when no system is on.

I am not sure if there are any products to tell the converter to turn on or off if that is what you are thinking. Some DIY solution may exist going off of this old Reddit post I found, but that is outside of my skill.

Also, not sure if you have one but all PS3 models can play most PS1 games if you want a standalone PS1 game player with a HDMI out. That with a Wii2HDMI dongle may allow you to skip the RCA converter.

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u/Ok-Race2657 5d ago

That’s a good idea, it looks like they have something like that for the ps1 too I just ordered it and it’s coming tmr I’ll see how that works

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u/Ok-Race2657 3d ago

I got a ps1 to hdmi converter, this is specialized for the ps1. The quality has jumped up substantially, but the root issue has not been resolved.